While the Copper Basin 300 Sled Dog Race was scheduled to get underway this morning from the frozen surface of Lake Louise near Glennallen, Alaska, Paul will not be leaving the starting line with any of the teams that have elected to race this year.  Unforgiving and brutal cold is still paralyzing that part of the state, and after reviewing the forecast and talking to trail reports, Paul felt it was not in the best interest of our team to embark on this 300 mile race.

He had waffled on whether or not to make the long drive up to the race earlier in the week, as we dealt with temperatures well into the minus -20 mark here at the kennel. Across the state, frigid temperatures plunging to minus -50 and colder were reported, with the region that the Copper Basin race would cross through only creeping to daytime highs of minus -28.  A snow-bearing cloud front was predicted to move in, and Paul was encouraged when he arrived at Lake Louise Thursday night.  As he and Kristi were unloading the dogs and finishing the last of his race preparations, the thermometer jumped to a balmy minus -15. During the night however, the powerful cold front pushed the warmer clouds out of the region, and with a full moon spilling over the landscape, the mercury plunged back into the minus -30/ -40 range.

This morning, after hearing reports of minus -54 temperatures (this is not including any windchill factor!) further up the trail and battling for hours to even start the dog truck, Paul knew it would be contrary to his level of dog care to start the race.  While he obviously had an awesome team, and looked to claim a second victory in the race, everything about our program this year has been geared towards winning the Iditarod.  Paul did not want to subject the dogs to any possible injuries stemming from frostbite with the big race less than two months away. Another consideration was certainly the availability of resources to care for the dogs. One year up at this same race, we saw temperatures fall to minus -68 below.  At the checkpoints, rather than bedding the dogs on straw, we were allowed to load them into the dog trucks to rest.  Later, it was a parade of dogs into the warmth of the checkpoint that finally had race officials calling off the event mid-stride. At that point, regardless of what the rest of the field had intended – Paul had already determined he was not going to continue in the race. Unlike the Iditarod, these small mid distance races just do not normally have the infrastructure to monitor and handle teams in dire situations.  Knowing that the trail ahead of him held some very remote runs across a mountain range among other factors, he did not feel it was worth it.

While it may sound egotistical, Paul really does not have anything to prove by running the race. He was won it before, and the team would be better served with some quality runs out of the kennel where the warm front has finally pushed in and we are now at a tropical minus -10 this morning.  He will regroup and prep the team for the upcoming Tustumena 200 as well as keep plugging away at the Iditarod food drops.

There are a couple of other alternative mid distance races scheduled that Paul may just surprise me by signing up for now that he isn’t doing the Copper Basin – I will keep you posted!

Until later - Life is a journey, enjoy the ride! Evy

COPPER BASIN SLED DOG RACE VOLUNTEER LISA CHRISTIE SAID "Personally I'm too scared to go outside" read the Anchorage Daily News coverage from Sunday, January 11, 2009 on the race coverage.http://www.adn.com/sports/mushing/story/649702.html